In this article, we are going to be looking at the eight most common bookkeeping mistakes to avoid. From small businesses to large corporations, bookkeeping is an integral part of any business. The job of bookkeeping might not be the most alluring profession, but it is necessary to keep a business running smoothly. Committing even the smallest of errors can cost a company greatly.

The Eight Most Common Bookkeeping Mistakes

Combining Personal and Business Checking Account: Your business checking account should be a separate checking account not mingled with your personal checking account. This is an eyesore to the IRS and to any sophisticated investor, because when you mix the two, it’s very hard to account for what is business and what is yours. If you had a separate checking account now, it doesn’t mean you should run into your bank and ask for a business checking account because they’re going to give you a checking account with a lot of fees and a lot of services that you just don’t need. So just go in and ask for another personal checking account, they’ll be happy to open it because every checking account that you open with them is another source of income for them.

Doing Bank Reconciliations: Bank reconciliation is when you balance your books to what the bank says. When you say this is the activity I had for the month and it matches what the bank says. This is very important for many reasons, because the bank will actually be more accurate than you may be in your books. Your bank reconciliation will reveal any data entry errors you make, such as double or missing entries forgetting to put a check in your check register or writing one number down and entering it into your check register another way and then by going over and reconciling or doing what we call bank recs, you will find these areas in your books will be more accurate.

Keeping Your Receipts: These sounds like hey how can this be important, but unless you’ve been audited by the IRS, it’s really hard to grasp the importance of keeping receipts. Many people believe that you can just track these expenses through your bank statement or your credit card statement. But that’s not necessarily true, because your bank statement or your credit card statement or your credit union statement will say you spend so much on this and here’s where you spent it. Here’s the amount but the auditor will say how do I know this is personal and not business. That’s when you pull out the little paper receipt.

Shoebox Bookkeeping: If you want to know what you are doing wrong in bookkeeping, then ask yourself if you are doing shoebox bookkeeping. This usually involves taking an empty shoebox and putting your financial paperwork in the box.

Manual Systems and Spreadsheets: A manual book system and spreadsheet is a good way to track financial information. However, spreadsheets fall short when it comes to tracking where your funds come from and go to.

Not Being Involved: Not being involved in the business of bookkeeping of your business would be a big mistake. Be involved and learn. Even if a professional accountant sets u your bookkeeping system, you should know it in and out.

Lack of Digital Bookkeeping: More and more financial trails and transactions occur through digital mediums. Your bookkeeping system should be equipped for this. There are a variety of accounting applications that synchronize with your business’s mail and shopping cart to provide a streamlined bookkeeping system.

Improper Classification of Employees: One of the mistake business owners make with bookkeeping is not classifying their employees properly. This happens when a business has both employees working directly at the office and independent contractors. To avoid paying too much tax, it is necessary for these employees are classified properly.

It is important to look at your business and determine if any of these mistakes applies to your business so as to effect changes where necessary. You can turn the bookkeeping task into something that would result to a positive change in your business by going through the eight most common bookkeeping mistakes I have talked about

Having the bestbookkeeper is an important aspect in a small business. This will ensure that you are secure about your financial status of the business and hence concentrate on other important activities in growing the business. Therefore, it will help in ensuring the growth of the business. Poor bookkeeping is one of the main reasons why businesses fail. It is, therefore, an essential thing to find the right bookkeeper. The following are attributes you should always consider when selecting your bookkeeper whether a company or an individual.

Bookkeeping is a continuous process which involves your company’s financial data and other essential data. A bookkeeper who is not reliable may bring confusion into your business. To ensure that the bookkeeper is reliable, you can ask for references who have their bookkeeping always done by the bookkeeper and can ensure you that the bookkeeper is reliable.

Good communication.

Most bookkeepers are always good with the paperwork but and very poor when it comes to communication and relating to others. You should ensure that the bookkeeper you choose can listen carefully and also speak out when there is a misunderstanding.

The bookkeeper you choose should have enough information on the bookkeeping process and also your company’s activities. A background in accounting or related courses may have to be considered to ensure they have technical knowledge.

It may seem obvious that all bookkeepers are organized. However, there are some who may not be organized and hence you should not assume the aspect of the organization when choosing your bookkeeper. A poorly organized bookkeeper may cause a lot of confusing and losses in your business especially if they are dealing with multiple clients whereby they may end up mixing data from different companies. Check here.

Gives you the priority

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The bookkeeper you choose should always prioritize your business. This means being there for your business, respecting the business, being keen on the finances and ensuring they do their best to ensure your business success.

Up to date.

The bookkeeping company should be using the current technology and current accounting practices. The employees should have necessary skills to do the work. Before you hire a bookkeeper, ask them on how they ensure they are up to date with the technology and ensure their customers have the skills required.

Some bookkeepers are not honest and yet it is a very critical quality. When a bookkeeper tells you that there is no problem in the business and yet there are a lot of problems may affect the growth and success of a business.

Professional expertise

The bookkeeper you choose should have a technical background in bookkeeping. This does not necessarily mean a college degree. It may also include previous experience in bookkeeping. You will know this by interviewing the candidates.

From the above qualities, I believe you can be able to choose the best bookkeeper for your business. You are also able to be keen on your bookkeepers knowing they form a critical part of your business success.To find out more, check out http://bookkeeperco.com.au/bookkeeper/

Having the best bookkeeper is an important aspect in a small business. This will ensure that you are secure about your financial status of the business and hence concentrate on other important activities in growing the business. Therefore, it will help in ensuring the growth of the business. Poor bookkeeping is one of the main reasons why businesses fail. It is, therefore, an essential thing to find the right bookkeeper. The following are attributes you should always consider when selecting your bookkeeper whether a company or an individual.

Bookkeeping is a continuous process which involves your company’s financial data and other essential data. A bookkeeper who is not reliable may bring confusion into your business. To ensure that the bookkeeper is reliable, you can ask for references who have their bookkeeping always done by the bookkeeper and can ensure you that the bookkeeper is reliable.

Good communication.

Most bookkeepers are always good with the paperwork but and very poor when it comes to communication and relating to others. You should ensure that the bookkeeper you choose can listen carefully and also speak out when there is a misunderstanding.

The bookkeeper you choose should have enough information on the bookkeeping process and also your company’s activities. A background in accounting or related courses may have to be considered to ensure they have technical knowledge.

It may seem obvious that all bookkeepers are organized. However, there are some who may not be organized and hence you should not assume the aspect of the organization when choosing your bookkeeper. A poorly organized bookkeeper may cause a lot of confusing and losses in your business especially if they are dealing with multiple clients whereby they may end up mixing data from different companies.

Gives you the priority.

Thebookkeeper you choose should always prioritize your business. This means being there for your business, respecting the business, being keen on the finances and ensuring they do their best to ensure your business success.

Up to date.

The bookkeeping company should be using the current technology and current accounting practices. The employees should have necessary skills to do the work. Before you hire a bookkeeper, ask them on how they ensure they are up to date with the technology and ensure their customers have the skills required.

Some bookkeepers are not honest and yet it is a very critical quality. When a bookkeeper tells you that there is no problem in the business and yet there are a lot of problems may affect the growth and success of a business.

Professional expertise

The bookkeeper you choose should have a technical background in bookkeeping. This does not necessarily mean a college degree. It may also include previous experience in bookkeeping. You will know this by interviewing the candidates.

From the above qualities, I believe you can be able to choose the best bookkeeper for your business. You are also able to be keen on your bookkeepers knowing they form a critical part of your business success. Visit this site for more information : Bookkeeperco.com.au

Many small business owners are usually hesitant to hire a bookkeeper who provides bookkeeping services to track their expenses, and it is hard to argue with the premise that every small business should budget for bookkeeping services. The rates are usually so reasonable that start-ups can afford to hire one and grow with the bookkeeping services as their ventures grow. Here are the four reasons a small business should get bookkeeping services:

Opportunity Cost

That it takes thetime to keep your books is the bottom line, and this isthe time that you could be spending on some other areas of business. If you are not so familiar with software that assists with bookkeeping or you are not an accountant, it will take you much higher time than necessary to enter transactions into your ledger if you perform the role of bookkeeper. Think of cost not only regarding the amount you would save doing this yourself but also how much more you could earn for your business if you were not spending time keeping books.

Accuracy

In hiring a bookkeeping service, you are employing an individual who has accounting experience or even a certified accountant. These people know how to enter and classify your transactions, which not only helps keep your books accurate but also pre-tax planning. When you do bookkeeping yourself, you may find a certain amount of procrastination is natural, like getting busy and failing to close your books on time. A person employed for the sole purpose to be abookkeeper will less procrastinate, check more often and usually do a better job.

Conflict of Interest

You could be in a business partnership or a business arrangement where there is more than an individual with interest in accounting. Even though you may think a great business relationship exists, these relationships can quickly turn sour in case there is any accusation of misconduct with bookkeeping. Even an unintentional error at the hands of one person could cause a serious rift in the business relationship which is unrepairable. Using a third party to carry out the bookkeeping transactions can help take the potential conflict of interest out of the situation.

Outsourcing

Today, hiring an in-house bookkeeper or accountant is no need. If your transactions demand a full-time dailyaccountant, then, it maybe the time to seek one. If you however simply need someone for a few hours a day or few hours a week, outsourcing the job is something you should consider. It will save you money on benefits and salaries to the individual. With advances in technology, you can even easily share files with a third party accountant quietly and efficiently, and you do not necessarily need to have an accountant in the office as you can easily access an online bookkeeper.

All the above advantages give you a reason to hire professionals to handle bookkeeping services, and you can then concentrate on your business and do what you do best. Dealing with Australian tax issues and keeping records n case an audit was necessary are just two services that can make bookkeeping a wise move in the Melbourne area. It is so easy to find the service as there are so many bookkeepers Melbourne. Visit this site for more information : Bookkeeperco.com.au

Australian small business owners consider bookkeeping to be associated with only Accounts Payables, Accounts Receivables, and performing various reconciliation tasks including bank reconciliation and payroll reconciliation by bookkeepers Melbourne. But small business bookkeeping also involves setting up and tracking payroll and superannuation functions, preparation and filing of BAS statement, and generating cash flow management reports and payroll reports.

Entrepreneurs usually find it difficult to manage on their own when it comes to preparing and filing BOA reports.

There are a few ways in which small business owners can streamline their BOA filing activities with Bookkeepers Melbourne.

The filing system

Business owners need to set up a filing system that works easily for them. It can be a date based system or filing system that is based on the alphabetical order of the concerned accounting transaction. In order to avail the maximum possible deduction, businesses have to pay as many bills as possible including superannuation bills for their employees and insurance and membership payments for its employees.

Bank reconciliation and credit card reconciliation

Bank reconciliation and credit card reconciliation are two important activities that need to be completed at the end of each financial year. If reconciliation is not done properly, it is very much possible to miss out on key business transactions. This can cause a huge hit on the company’s bottom-line.

On top of all these steps, owners of small business take the help of a certified and government approved bookkeeper to simplify the process of end of the year filing.

Importance of hiring a professional bookkeeper:

Professional bookkeepers are more knowledgeable and can get work done in a much quicker time.

All the paperwork would be handled by the bookkeeper leaving the business owners to wholly concentrate on developing their core business.

Professional bookkeepers would greatly help in the process of tax filing, which is considered as a daunting and an overwhelming task by the owners of small businesses.

Experienced bookkeepers have the required expertise in choosing the right software and IT infrastructure needed for processing and storing accounting data for easy retrieval at a later point in time.

They also have the required knowledge and expertise to guide the business owners in matters related to increasing the investment and cutting back on the expenses.

They will be able to apply the current tax laws in a much more effective manner and also keep themselves updated about the changes in tax laws.

They would be able to work on the financial data and come out with meaningful reports that can help the business owner to strengthen their bottom line.

By hiring an experienced service provider of bookkeeping Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, business owners get more time to focus on business expansion activities. Business owners need not spend additional money in training their in-house employee by outsourcing their bookkeeping function to a proven bookkeeping service provider in bookkeepers Melbourne.

Businesses can look at a broader picture and analyze the company financial data from a long term growth perspective. Using the quarterly reports generated by the bookkeeping service provider, business can continue to monitor their income and expenditure levels on a continuous basis. By closely monitoring, entrepreneurs and corporations can start to take the required corrective actions in areas that require immediate attention fromhttp://bookkeeperco.com.au/bookkeeper/

Do you Know that Bookkeeping is now becoming a prominent profession in Australia, especially in Melbourne, for those who have a head for numbers. If you are planning to work in the bookkeeping industry, then bookkeeper is the right job for you. Bookkeeper’s main responsibility is to track the flow of money and pay bills of the business you are working for, in time. Bookkeeper also has to ensure that all other employees get regularly paid and keep a check and balance on the company’s financial record. A Bookkeeper job might sound pretty impressive but before you apply ask yourself if you should be a bookkeeper!?

Essential traits you require to qualify as a bookkeeper include numerical accuracy and excellent mathematical skills. Furthermore, you should be patient and dedicated and should pay close attention to every minute detail. You should have strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and you also require having excellent organization skills to deal with the financial system of the business you are willing to get employed for.

You should also acquire some professional skills before applying for the position of bookkeeping. Bookkeepers are mainly hired for one reason which is being able to prepare a business activity statement (BAS). BAS refers to as an essential tax statement that every business had to send to the tax office annually. To do so, specific registration and qualification are required. For instance, in Australia, a bookkeeper should be registered as a BAS agent with the Tax Practitioner Board. To register as a BAS agent all, you need to complete either the Certificate IV in Accounting or Certificate IV in Bookkeeping. The value of these certificates is to teach you multiple payroll systems. It also helps to prepare financial reports and it also gives you the practical skills that you need to acquire to fulfill the bookkeeping role. Work experience also counts to get a part of bookkeeping because it would help to expand the role of the industry and understand the everyday chores of bookkeeper.

The value of Bookkeeper in Melbourne is very high as there is even a website as ‘bookkeeperco.com.au that understands the different needs of various businesses and other nonprofit organizations. Many companies require a comprehensive bookkeeping service to help the business run their operations. Bookkeeper Co website offers what businesses needs by tailor providing a bookkeeper service to suit with the quality or accuracy of the business. Bookkeeper Co helps to provide qualified and experienced bookkeeper staff. Services offered by Bookkeeper Co include inventory management, payable accounts, payroll system, receivable accounts, BAS lodgments and financial reporting. BookkeeperCo offers full-service onsite bookkeepers at the hourly rate. It also offers special discounted price option for offsite bookkeepers.

Do you know that hiring a bookkeeper is an overwhelming process? There are several bookkeepers in the world today and most of them offer different types of bookkeeping services and therefore you must know the kind of bookkeeper that you want before you go to search for one. Skills and experience of bookkeepers are very important factors that you need to keep in mind when hiring or outsourcing bookkeeping services. Among the services involved in bookkeeping are data entry of invoices and bills, creation of budget, analysis of numbers and many others. A good bookkeeper must know how to use modern technology like the accounting software so that it can be easy to store information in a computer and retrieve it when necessary. Experienced bookkeepers can handle issues like performing of the monthly close and reconciliation of the balance with ease. Here are 5 accounting interview questions that any bookkeeper might be asked:

Is cash basis or accrual reporting necessary for the management of a business

Ensure that you have an advanced bookkeeper who is able to explain in detail all issues related accrual basis accounting and also give accurate financial records on the same. Cash basis is very important in the management of any business and it is mainly preferred in taxes. You need to be careful on the bookkeeper that you outsource since some bookkeepers are inexperienced and unprofessional.

Explain what a balance sheet is or the accounting question

Becoming a professional bookkeeper is not an easy thing as you may think but there are several procedures involved before you eventually become one. A good bookkeeper should have the ability to explain in detail what a balance sheet and also explain other items of the balance sheet like equity, liabilities, assets and many others.

Rank the following in order of merit: sales, service, profitability, teamwork, integrity, quality

If you are not a professional bookkeeper it may be difficult for you to arrange these items in accordance to their importance but a professional bookkeeper will list them without taking much time. This question will enable you to demonstrate the critical thinking skills that you have and also show your business culture. As a professional bookkeeper you will list integrity to be on the top and profitability to be lower on the list.

How many gas stations or coffee shops are in the UK?

When you are asked such a question you must be very technical when answering it because the interviewer is tasking some skills in you. It is not good to guess when you have been asked such a question because if you guess your integrity can be doubted by the interviewer. Having good critical thinking skills is very important as a bookkeeper. Most bookkeepers Melbourne have been taught on skills in their career and therefore they know how to handle these issues.

Is there a time that you did not agree with what your boss asked you to do?

This is another very technical question to answer in a interview and therefore you need to be very critical when answering it or else you will lose your job. The answer that you will give in this case will depend on your personality.

Understand what a Bookkeeper really does for a living. Although the name only links the profession to books, they do much more than to simply control books. They calculate, plan and work to always ensure that the clients are happy and dealing with a very healthy business. If you would like to be a Bookkeeper as well then this article will show you what are the areas of expertise of this professional and what could be done to become part of the bookkeeping world.

Bookkeeper Melbourne and their daily routine

Currently, these professionals have fundamental importance in the routine of enterprises and government agencies, as the activities that run are connected to the control accounts and expenses, thus contributing to the financial stability of the place where they work. They are stable and need to always study in order to keep up with the latest changes in law. These Bookkeepers also ensure that the company is always healthy and heading towards the right path. They are not there just to point possible mistakes and to avoid prosecutions, they are there to explain and guide workers and bosses to do the best in order to have a safe and reliable company to work for. Find more info in this post.

EXPERTISE AND LABOUR MARKET

The Bookkeepers are responsible for conducting financial postings for accounts and record the movement in books and control chips. Although most companies that look for the services of Bookkeeper Melbourne have accounting purposes, there are also commercial and commercial forms – which relate to trade – and tax, which relate to taxes and so every single company needs help to deal with so many papers and rules – which constantly change by the way.

What are the specific daily tasks in fact?

More specifically, the Bookkeeper Melbourne is in charge of dealing with the bureaucracy of the company for which it provides services. It is he who perform accounting control of the organization and provides access to credit and company data when they are requested. It is also due to the clerk register, according to the legal procedures, payment of debts and cash flow from the property.

The bookkeepers’ areas of expertise are divided into accounting, tax and business. The first deals with the realization of releases related to accounting, recording of financial transactions and assets analysis. Already the fiscal bookkeeping (or tax) analyzes the revenue and tax collection according to the legal aspects, calculating and preparing tax guides and coordinating routine care to the tax obligations.

The bookkeeping, in turn, deals with the registration and documentation of all the company’s business in order to account for releases and prepare accountability reports.

With regard to job opportunities in both the public sector and the private show great demand for the services of these professionals. The low number of skilled workers in the area makes the pay increase, especially for tax clerks. The average salary of a clerk is over two thousand dollars per month, which is great for any beginner Bookkeeper Melbourne.

To define virtual assistant bookkeeping, I must say that it is just a one stop shopping for the CFO services, accounting and bookkeeping.
You will find that virtual assistant bookkeeping is proven, and it is really a single stop solution for back office. There are a number of values added to the virtual assistant bookkeeping, these are website development and design, applications for different websites, data entry, processing of dates and even processing of businesses, which may be small or midsize.

Now, if you find the term virtual assistant bookkeeping familiar to your ears, you will think that how you can be benefited from it:

Here are some of the assistances, so that how you can be benefited from it:

• If you are suffering as a result of poor bookkeeping and inaccurate records, then you will be glad to find that the virtual assistant bookkeeping will allow you to form accurate books, and you will find that you are able to construct a full set of best decisions in order to develop the business and profit margin.

• Bookkeeping as we all know is really a very slow and tedious task to deal with, so if you are busy dealing with your company’s bookkeeping task, then let me tell you that it is really time consuming, and you will not find that easy for you. So you can better find any person who can handle the virtual bookkeeping tasks for you, and you can devote yourself with your utmost effort in the company’s bookkeeping profile.

• You should keep one thing in mind, that if you are totally mistaken with all the decisions of your bookkeeping, then you will be facing tremendous problems all through the way. You will be forming disastrous decisions if your bookkeeping plans are wrong. For that accompany of virtual assistant bookkeeping is very much essential, it will enable you to make correct decisions and will help you out to avoid mistakes related with it. A person busy with any sort of company’s bookkeeping will also find it great! It will help him to keep a proper track record of the forthcoming tax season.

Factors affecting virtual assistant bookkeeping:

There are two main factors over which virtual assistant bookkeeping is dependent. They are:

Firstly, as we all know that bookkeeping being a slow task will not show you with the results immediately, and you will also not find it rewarding right away. So you can better take your time, you can even assign some other people if you are busy with some other dealings. But, you will surely find this one quite helpful.

Secondly, you will find that all your tasks will be performed accurately if you are well assisted with virtual assisted bookkeeping. You will find that most of the companies hire a bookkeeper, this due to the fact the companies can focus on their core businesses sand reduce the operating costs. This will also enable the company to increase the margin of the profit.

After using the software called , PeaQuickBookschtree, how can one be able to get the information on the bookkeeper? Here are some of the suggestions to handle this, and it is a common factor that is entirely dependent on the process that is best suited for you and the bookkeeper that you are up to.visit this post here!

• It is very easy to go for the use of virtual bookkeeper, for those who have the online banking facilities. The only thing that you have to do is to download all the bank activities. You can do this weekly, bi-weekly and even monthly. This can be done anytime you find it suitable. You have to only e-mail the statement of the bank (information) to the bookkeeper, for the necessary entry in the bank, when all the details are available.

• You can even mail, fax the information that are essential for the preparation of client invoice. A template of master invoice can also be prepared for the client, for the monthly invoice phenomenon. You can just send the necessary details and can send it to the virtual bookkeeper for filling them up. The virtual bookkeeper can prepare the invoice on your behalf, and then it can also email the invoice for you. Not only this, it can also enable you to just keep a seal tabs on the financial records that are receivable.

• You will find that most of the people pay the bill to the vendor, and they send it to the bookkeeper for unification. After the completion of the unification process, the bookkeeper will email you with all the details and financial reports and will send all the attachments for the required statements for completion.

• You can prepare a file folder for each and every month of the year. You can just insert all the details such as the vendor bills, cash-outlays and the vendor bills. After receiving the bank statement, you can just send the file folder to the bookkeeper for the track and completion of the necessary filling via UPS, FedEx or to that of the priority mail.

You will find it great that once the file and the folder are received by the virtual bookkeeper, the phenomenon of unification starts all at once. All you have to do is to just send the necessary details for the completion, and then you can even sleep. The virtual assistant bookkeeper will do all the activities for you.read more from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246060

After all these, you have to do is to just find a virtual bookkeeper for yourself. For that you can consult with your accountant in order to help you out for that.

You will find that the Intuits, have the online database all set up, and you can find an official website of them. You can enter the zip code, and you will be shown with the area by the Pro-advisor. Here you have to take a test on the most recent and the current edition. The test will be that of an online test, and it can take at around fifteen hours to complete.